Some people (acquaintances, not professionals) have suggested I might have it in the past (especially wrt problems focusing), but reading symptom lists for adults with ADHD usually makes me go, "Well, kind of, except..." and then some kind of variation of the problem, or a work around I'm so used to doing it's like I don't have that problem. Is that a common ADHD thing? Does this ring a bell to anyone? I'm asking because I'm thinking of bringing this up to my psychologist and I want to be prepared, and also I'm procrastinating from something else right now. An example of this would be "difficulty following directions". I've never been told I have difficulty following directions, but when I have to follow them, I need to refer back to them frequently or I'll get lost. I feel like I need to always skim the previous steps in the directions, too, in case I skipped a step (which happens). Also, I have the damnedest time remembering verbal directions, unless I'm able to repeat them to myself a lot. Like, I would say that's difficulty? But I don't know what it's like to be other people with directions. If anyone who's got ADHD wants to weigh in on this, I'd be happy to hear it.
Isn't the usual thing to check whether you react to stimulants by getting hyper (not ADHD) or more focused (ADHD)?
Is that a proven thing? Because I get more focused when I have caffeine, and I didn't think I have ADHD but...?
I don't think it's a perfect test, but yeah that's actually a thing- I know a preschool teacher who, if she suspects one of her students has ADHD, gives them some mountain dew(with parent permission of course).
hunh, i should try the caffeine test sometime. @Avery i would tell the psych just what you've said here, since they should have a decent idea of what's meant by 'difficulties following instructions'. but i think procrastinating by working on something else seems relatively common with adhd.
That's how I was originally diagnosed -- third grade teacher suggested giving me coffee before setting me on a task I would normally have trouble completing, and if I had less trouble then to discuss the possibility of ADD with my doctor. And that's how I came to drink coffee every day before school, and also become terribly addicted to Mountain Dew.
I have adhd, and that direction-following thing sounds very familiar to me. If I don't have a visible set of written instructions while doing something sufficiently complicated (like making a new recipe), I'm gonna have a hard time doing it. If you used to have issues with some adhd/executive function-related things, but have since figured out ways to work around them, I'd approach the diagnosis test as if you still had those issues, especially if your fixes are for specific problems rather than the larger brain issues causing them. For example, I've been late for appointments and missed buses enough that now I'm in the habit of planning out any travel the night before and triple-checking bus arrival times before I leave. I'm almost never late to things now, but that's not because I'm instinctively good at planning and following a schedule, it's because I got paranoid about it. I used to forget stuff like keys, wallet, etc. all the time too, and now I'm always aware of where those things are and I triple-check that I've got them before leaving, but I'm not any less forgetful. And if I've got enough other stuff going on in my brain, things can get dropped off the mental checklist, so I still end up being late or not having stuff I need sometimes :P So yeah, if any of that seems familiar, keep your "untrained" state in mind when answering questions. Maybe explain to your psych about your workarounds vs. your brain's natural state. It's kind of like how you're supposed to answer questions about chronic pain levels based on your worst days.
Re: stimulants: just because they don't work doesn't mean you don't have it. They don't work on me and caffeine makes my partner straight-up sleepy. This is a thing with some people who have inattentive-type. Thankfully, not all meds are stimulants now! That said, just echoing what everyone else has said: even if you've found a workaround it doesn't mean the thing causing the problem never existed.
The psychologist said it was a possibility and gave me some assessment stuff. I filled out a bubble thing and left it at the office for him to score, and I have a self-assessment thing to bring back later. He said if I have it, it's probably ADD Inattentive Type.
Stimulants, work arounds, and caffeine, yes, that exactly. Popping in because for a few of these things I had no idea there might be correlation with my adhd and why certain things work better. It makes an amazing amount of sense now as to why I'm so much better with written instructions instead of verbal ones. This is intensely cool.
So I talked to the psychologist again on Wednesday, he said that I didn't score super high on the bubbling thing but I scored high enough to have ADD be a legitimate consideration. I also talked to my psychiatrist on Friday. I showed him the self-assessment I filled out and he also said it was a possibility. But since we're still adjusting the dosage of my celexa and dealing with depression and anxiety stuff, he wants to wait until that's evened out some. He said later on we can talk about doing... I think he said neurological assessments? Because that could be worthwhile.
